Rainforest Alliance's Ana Paula Tavares

Ana Paula Tavares is the Executive Vice President of the Rainforest Alliance, a nonprofit organization that works to protect the environment and improve the livelihoods of communities in more than 80 countries. The Rainforest Alliance focuses on building a more sustainable world by working closely with companies, developers and governments to develop better land-use practices. It is more important than ever to protect and preserve the world's rainforests, as they are an essential piece to the earth's ecosystem.

"There are a lot of resources that come out of forests, such as food, oils, wood, paper and furniture," Tavares says. "They are habitats for wildlife. There are plant species in forests that we don't even know what kind of properties they have. [Forests] provide livelihoods for local communities. They are very important for the health and balance of this planet."